Whatever Floats Your Boat
Over the weekend we gathered a small group of friends and family for a boat naming ceremony. When you buy a boat, there is a tradition you’re supposed to follow to properly name it: bring together a small group of friends, announce your boat’s name and share a few words explaining its meaning, and ask for the gods of the sea (in our case, the river) to watch over your boat and your passengers. If you choose to rename a boat that was previously owned by someone else, you follow the same tradition by thanking the boat for the past, welcoming its new future, and officially replacing the old name with the new.
At the end of last season, we sold our old boat (“Satellite Office”) to a nice young couple and ordered ourselves a new boat which got delivered last week. As we were prepping for our boat naming ceremony on Sunday, it occurred to me how special our boating traditions are to us. Typically we boat from May until September— if the river cooperates, sometimes our season can stretch into October.
The transformation along the riverbank each May is exciting to watch. In April, there are no docks nor any boats in the water. Over the course of a few weekends, groups of hard workers help re-anchor all the docks into place. Then pickup trucks and trailers arrive at the marina as people launch their boats back into the water. Friends we haven’t seen all winter emerge from hibernation, pale and ready for sunshine, sporting bathing suits and boat shoes. There is a cadence to our activities: we plan our weekends around the weather, who’s coming out with us for the afternoon, and what to pack for the day. There’s a casual coordination among our friends.
This tradition repeats every summer as we unplug from our busy workdays to simply enjoy the water.
On Sunday afternoon, we gathered with friends and family, popped open the champagne, and announced the name of our boat— “Two Chicks on Board,” a funny spinoff of the acronym TCOB which usually stands for Takin’ Care of Business—and officially kicked off the 2021 boating season. Shortly before our ceremony and several docks over from where we’re located we could see the new owners of our old boat conducting exactly the same ceremony with their friends. They retired our “Satellite Office” to give their boat its new name.
It struck me how important and meaningful it is to continue old traditions, and to also welcome new beginnings.
What are your change-of-season traditions? What does your family do at this time of the year that you’re excited for? Did you spend the weekend planting flowers in your flower boxes, staking your tomato plants, getting your grass seeded and your sprinkler system turned on? Are you helping plan a graduation, prep for prom, or move forward with the wedding that didn't happen in 2020? Did you dust off your convertible to get it ready for the sunshine? Are you buying tickets for a summer concert knowing many of our favorite bands will be touring again? Whatever your traditions are, I hope you’ll welcome them with appreciation and gratitude, and invite all the people who are most important to you to join in the celebrations.
This Week’s Resources
Typo City
I carve out time to read and re-read my Wednesday Wisdom emails every week to make sure there are no misspelled words or missing punctuation before I officially press send. Last week, I followed my same routine. But very late on Tuesday night, I made a few last-minute changes to my message. The email went out early on Wednesday morning. Shortly after it was sent, I received a text from my son Charlie with this message: Mom! Wednesday Wisdom was Typo City. You should have asked me to proofread it for you! I immediately re-read what had been sent, and there were not one, not two, but FIVE typos— all from the updates I had made late the night before! I was mortified. I learned two lessons from Typo City: #1: Always double-check your work. #2: Assume that people are constantly scrutinizing the quality of the work we do—even our own children!
From Cleaning the Classroom to Leading It
Wanda Smith had a dream to become a school teacher. She worked for years as the custodian of the school, taking night classes for nine years, and dealing with terrible loss and tragedy before finally realizing her goal. ABC news shares her heart-warming story here: https://abc7.com/wanda-smith-brenham-isd-elementary-school-becoming-a-teacher/10495901/
Attention all Pet Lovers!
You love your dog. You’d do anything for your cat. Maybe you should consider buying them a Petcube? This Smart HD pet camera will allow you to keep tabs on Fido while you’re at work, dispense treats to him from afar, and help to alleviate a pet’s anxiety with this handy gadget. For $199, isn’t Fido worth it?? https://petcube.com/bites-2/
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